MotoGP at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca this weekend

The best in the world on two wheels come to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca this weekend with the running of the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix. MotoGP, the premier motorcycle road racing series on earth headlines a schedule that also includes races for AMA Pro American Superbike, Pro Daytona SportBike, and Pro American Supersport.
Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo is storming towards the championship with five wins in eight races and second place finishes in the other three. His main rival, 9-time World Champion Valentino Rossi, missed the podium last weekend by just .2 seconds at the German Grand Prix in his comeback race after being sidelined with a broken leg.

Repsol Honda teammates Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso are second and third in the championship with Ducati teammates Casey Stoner and American Nicky Hayden fourth and fifth just ahead of Rossi.

Three-time AMA Superbike champion Ben Spies, a rookie in MotoGP, teams up with Colin Edwards in an all-American squad on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team. A fourth American, Roger Lee Hayden, will join brother Nicky for the first time in MotoGP. Roger Lee was asked to step in for Randy de Puniet who suffered multiple fractures to his left leg at the German GP.

MotoGP riders are treated like royalty throughout the world, and this week the riders from both Yamaha teams met with American TV royalty, Jay Leno, at his 70,000 sq. ft. garage complex in Burbank, Cal. They toured Leno’s vast collection of cars and motorcycles, all of which are street legal and driven by Leno regularly. Yamaha also invited a trio of the championship riders from the past, Kenny Roberts Sr., Eddie Lawson, and Wayne Rainey.

Then the folks from Yamaha surprised Leno by presenting him with the Yamaha R1 Superbike ridden by Eric Bostrom during the 2008 AMA Superbike season. The bike had the bare minimum of conversions to make it street legal. Now all Leno has to do is find a place to hang the license plate.

If you’ve ever thought about making the trek down to Laguna for the U.S. Grand Prix, this would be the year to pull the trigger. There will be so many dramas, so many questions answered. Can Nicky Hayden return to the form that took him to two wins in this event in ’05 and ’06? Can Pedrosa duplicate his win last year and eat into Lorenzo’s points lead? Will Rossi’s recovery be confirmed with another Laguna victory?

The site of these bikes all around the Laguna Seca track is breathtaking. They crest the hill past start-finish at nearly 165 mph. Riders drag their knees at the top of the Corkscrew then get light as they launch down the hill, switching their weight to the other side for the compression at the bottom of the turn. Watching them then powerslide down the hill at the exit is pure heaven to motorcycle racing fans.

Practice and qualifying are Friday and Saturday with both the MotoGP and AMA Superbike races on Sunday. Tickets are $30 Friday, $40 Saturday, and $50 on Sunday. The two-day weekend pass in $70. All are available through Ticketmaster. TV coverage will be live at 2 p.m. on Speed Channel. For more details go to www.mazdaraceway.com.